Xbox Live Arcade Hands-On

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We play around with Microsoft's upcoming arcade library.

By Hilary Goldstein

Xbox Live Arcade, available November 3, is one of Microsoft's more intriguing ideas for expanding Xbox Live's reach. Here's how it works. You order a free launcher disc from Xbox.com (expect a $5 shipping and handling charge). Once you have the disc, you can go onto Xbox Live and check out all of the currently available games, which are separated into different categories.

Games aren't free and will cost between $9.99-$19.99. Some of these are for single games, which you can play as often as you like after paying the one-time download fee, or can be a package of games. There's a Namco Arcade Classics package, for example, which includes Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, and Galaga, so you pay one flat fee (the pricing has not yet been confirmed, but will be at least $9.99) and can play the games from this package as often as you like.

You won't have to buy blindly, though, as you can sample games with either timed or single-level demos. There's pretty much something for everyone, with classic arcade offerings, card and board games, and newly created addictive mini-games. Once of these, Fuzzee Fever, was offered to me as my first hands-on experience with Live Arcade.

A four-player online game, Fuzzee Fever takes the simple concept of connecting four like-colored blocks and turns it on its head to make it more action-oriented. A 3D game that looks nothing like Tetris or Super Puzzle Fighter, Fuzzee Fever still manages that high-level of addictiveness found in the aforementioned titles. There are two sides, separated by a short wall. There are colored boxes on the floor, with more dropping constantly, and you need to pick up and move individual boxes or push then around to align four of the same color. They can be connected in any manner (in a line, as a T, whatever you want) so long as four blocks are touching. Doing so deletes the blocks and scores you some points.

The competitive part comes with the creation of bombs, which appear when you clear a box wrapped in a bow. This present turns into a bomb, which you can pick up and throw to the other side of the map at your enemy. It takes a bit of time to get used to, and the strategies for pushing around blocks and using teamwork (as you can play two-on-two) don't become apparent at first, but Fuzzee Fever and other games like it on Live Arcade could turn out to be a lot of fun.

There are dozens of games that will be available for purchase November 3 and many more are planned for at least the first few months as Microsoft gauges the popularity. After all, if people only flock to the classic games, it makes no sense to put up more board games for download.

While Live Arcade is a good idea, there are a few concerns. First, if you are going to play someone online, both of you need to have purchased the games package. That leads to the second concern -- cost. A $10 minimum for something like the Namco Arcade package seems a little steep. The thought that the package could end up as much as $20 makes me wonder who came up with this price point? Will gamers lay down that kind of cash for old school arcade games, board games, and newly-created mini-games? That remains to be seen. I do know that most expected the price to be $5 a package, but that's not happening.

We'll have more on Xbox Live Arcade soon. We hope to bring you a full list of games and more impressions of each in the coming weeks so stay tuned.